Category Archives

Amazon collaborated with WICS on February 25 and hosted an info session. Space was limited so only students that RSVPed were allowed to enter. Luckily, WICS tried their best to accommodate as many people as possible. WICS managed to allow about 100 students to listen in on the info session so that they could learn more about working and applying to Amazon.

On February 18, WICS hosted a Verizon Info Sessions. Female engineers from Verizon came and talked about the opportunities at Verizon and what it’s like to work at Verizon. The first half of the info session was a mixer focused mainly on more personal socialization, while the second half was an info session about Verizon with a Q&A at the end. Over 30 people showed up and learned a lot about Verizon!

On Wednesday January 14, the ICS clubs teamed up and invited various alumni from different years to tell stories of their success. Over 50 people showed up, listening to Sarah Flores from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Binh Dang from MeridianLink, Albert Wong from Red Hat, Chris Wong from Mirth Corporation, Angeline Phan Gray from Emdeon/TC3 Health, Lynn Acosta from OpenText, and Corey Katoul from Demonstranda share what they learned from college and what they thought was most important in the future in the real field. Make sure to check out the rest of the events this year.

In Week 5 on Monday, November 3rd, WICS was proud to host a Facebook Women Panel, wherein a recruiter and five engineers from Facebook took the time to answer questions about their experiences working for the world’s biggest social network. Their backgrounds ranged from developing Facebook’s Android apps, to being on the iOS Messenger team, to working on a secret, still-developing Facebook application. It was a great opportunity for attendees to get a glimpse of what jobs at Facebook have to offer, while enjoying delicious food, courtesy of Baja Fresh.

When asked what they enjoyed at Facebook, the ladies unanimously remarked that they enjoyed the freedom to work on projects of their choice, and the creativity of their work environments. “Everyone all has the same title – Software Engineer,” Lynn explained, “so it’s very easy to go up to someone and ask them anything. The people at Facebook are really humble.”

The team also highly praised Facebook’s Engineering Boot Camp program, a six-week program designed to introduce new engineers to the company’s code base. Jess, a former intern who recently went full-time, noted that it greatly helped her to figure out what she wanted to work on, while Kathy described it as “the best summer camp ever!”

The panel ended promptly at seven, due to the engineers’ having to catch their flights back home, and the night closed with attendees being able to submit their resumes and pick up some Facebook swag. We had a great turnout, with over 60 people attending, and overall, the event was a terrific experience for everyone involved. Hopefully, it’s indicative of the popularity of the panels yet to come!

On Thursday, April 17th WITI, Women in Technology International, hosted a panel of technology experts that informed the audience on software delivery methods. The key speakers were some really successful and passionate women. The speakers consist of Diane Cochran, a software engineer at Blizzard, Kristine A. Hayes Munson, an IT leader with a successful record in completing projects in finance, printing, and construction industries, and Melissa Meyer, the lead producer for Battle.net at Blizzard.

Some of the issues they addressed are the pros and cons of using agile for building products, how traditional companies address ‘time to market’ barriers when Compliance/Safety is a concern, and the best ways to track and measure development progress against goals. Six of our WICS members volunteered at the event and got to attend the event for free! WITI provided a large amount of delicious food from Gina’s Pizza and raffled out cool prizes such as books on Agile development, hand bags, and much more!

WICS will be working with WITI again in the future, so be on the lookout for more events hosted by WITI and WICS!

WICS members got the opportunity to attend the Celebration of Women in Computing in Southern California (CWIC-SoCal) Conference held on April 5th and 6th. WICS provided attendees reimbursement for signup fees as well as free transportation!

The event kicked off with a welcoming ceremony that consisted of talks from inspirational women in the computing field. The talks were held by a broad scope of women all united by the core concept of computing. The backgrounds of these women ranged from industry to research. In fact, Gloria Mark, a professor from the Informatics department of UCI also held a talk of her research of multitasking.

The WICS members learned about grad school, what these speakers do, and about women in the tech field in general. There was also a Q/A panel with company representatives as well as a mentorship panel. At the end of the first day, CWIC-SoCal also held an Academic/Career Fair with quite a few company booths, swag, and networking opportunities. That night ended with a Lego Challenge and a game of CS jeopardy. The winners of the lego competition, 5 groups of 5, all received $25 Amazon gift cards, congrats to one of the WICS’s teams that won!

All in all, it was a very exciting weekend that consisted of fun and networking with other women students and professionals in computing. Next year, WICS will be hosting init(Together) once again, stay tuned and don’t miss out!

Around 62 people signed in on Thursday, January 16th, for the Google Panel. WICS invited female Googlers to talk about what it is like to work there, capabilities needed for applying, as well as ways of applying. One of the speakers that came, trains other Googlers to interview applications and gave WICS some really good interview advice.

The two speakers talked about how Google is doing their best in decreasing the gender inequality. There are many benefits to working at Google such as flexible schedules, maternity and paternity leave, and even asking for promotions. Due to the limited space in the room, many people were unable to attend the panel. However, Google set up a booth outside the DBH building the next day for further questions and advice for people who were unable to go to the panel. Apply for Google by going on google.com/jobs/students!

WICS would like to give a big thanks to the recruiter, Alec Fox, for organizing this event.

Monday, November 25th, the CIA hosted an info session with WICS. 25 people came and had a chance to hear about multiple job opportunities, benefits, and application processes at the CIA. There were also handouts, free swag, and food at the event.

The CIA offers many internship opportunities for freshmen, sophomores, and graduates. All of these opportunities are located in Washington DC and covers travel fee, more information can be found on their website. Working for the CIA provides many benefits such as health insurance and credit union.

This session taught WICS a lot about what a company looks for in applications, resumes, and cover letters. Working for the CIA is not as hard as it seems and many misconceptions about them were cleared!

Monday, November 4th, representatives Tu Bui, Justin Wong, and team lead Annavic Duyongco of the Southern California Gas Company came and talked to WICS. Over 15 people attended and had a chance to learn more about SCGC.

SCGC offers many student opportunities such as paid internships and full time jobs that provide training and an insight on different possible fields to work in. There are many fun activities and team building involved in working at SCGC. They have many site locations and for tech positions, SCGC allows interns and associates to choose from a large range of different programming languages to use of your liking. SCGC even offers a Mentorship program for the newcomers to have a chance to see what their future might look light and have someone to guild them there.

SCGC is currently hiring, check out their website or contact WICS if you wish to learn more on how to apply!

WICS hopes that everyone did well on their midterms and if you were too busy to attend some of our meetings, there are a few more weeks left of relaxation before Finals! Stay updated with WICS’s future events and come out to have some fun or just eat some food!

Cecilia Rubio came to talk to WICS about her journey into the world of IT as a woman on Wednesday, October 30th. Over 20 people came to learn about what it is like to work in Northrop Grumman, a leading global security company, and how Cecilia always presented herself as prepared and motivational, leading her to multiple job and internship opportunities. Being confident and overachieving is key to staying employed and possibly promoted in a company. Benefits that a company offer and its work environment is very important when looking for jobs, being happy in your future job is always the number one priority! Northrop Grumman offers many benefits for employees and is now hiring!

Don’t worry if you missed out, there are more opportunities in the future, stay updated with WICS’s events!

WICS would also like to thank all the people that came to this event even though they had midterms!